Portraits
by xXSaithilienXx
Summary: Things are not always what they seem. One-shot.


**Hey! This is my first one-shot... no romance though, sorry about that. It's just a short story that came in my mind. I hope you like it and please review!^^**

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"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.  
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."  
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.  
"You must be," said the Cat, or you wouldn't have come here."  
― Lewis Carroll, _Alice in Wonderland_

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The large clock on top of a large building ticked as time passed by. A few moments later, the bell beside the clock tolls as a sign that the day has ended.

"This assignment will be passed next meeting! Dismissed!", the teacher said as she waved her hands goodbye and walked out of the room.

As soon as the teacher is out of sight, Sakura stood up and gathered her things, getting ready to leave. She walked out of the room and her best friend, Ino fell into a step beside her.

"Hey, Sakura! Shikamaru's having a party over at his house! Wanna come over?", Ino said in an excited tone.

Sakura just smiled as she shook her head. "No thanks, Ino-chan. My mother is expecting me early. Sorry about that."

Ino frowned a little, but she brightened up and nodded her head. "All right then. But you better not regret it, because I'm not filling you up on what happened!"

Sakura laughed, "I'm not expecting you to. Now get out of my face before I make you."

"You're mean, and that's why I like you!", Ino pouted and ran off, waving to Sakura goodbye.

Sakura sighed as she walked home alone. She passed through shrubs and tall trees as it grew thicker and thicker as time passes by. After what seemed like hours, she began to become suspicious. 'I should be home by now. I remember it doesn't take this long to get home.'

She stopped walking as she assessed the thick forest beside her. The sun has already set hours ago and Sakura is steadily growing nervous. She looked behind her and a fog is growing. She has no choice but to enter the forest because the fog is too thick to see clearly, making it impossible to get to her house unscathed.

Entering the forest, she pushed aside the shrubs and branches on her way and continued to trek into the unknown.

Time passed as she continued the same routine on the branches.

'Well, this is getting tiring. I have been walking here for hours already and not a house on sight, this is getting frustrating.'

As if on cue, a figure of what seemed to be a house loomed over the thin fog of the forest. Sakura looked closer and she began to see the house clearly.

The house, no, the mansion is a large Victorian style mansion with white faded painting and the entire masonry are ancient-looking. The weeds are overgrown on the lawn, and it is now obvious that the mansion is very old and there is no caretaker or an owner.

Sakura hesitated. 'Maybe the owner is very lazy, maybe the caretaker is on vacation. But... this seems to be the only house for miles, so it will not hurt to stay for the night, right? I'll apologize to whoever is in charge here tomorrow.'

She walked to the mansion's double doors and opened it to peek inside. She saw a long, stretching hallway with different portraits on the way. On the side, a faded insignia hung over torn tapestries was seen and under it, a faded word of what looks like a last name is visible. She squinted to read the name to no avail. She only caught the letter 'U' and that's it. She shivered as she walked forward, trying to find a room. She felt as if these portraits are staring right at her as she passed by. She dares not look into even one in her fear.

She finally saw a vacant room, complete with a queen-sized bed and ruby carpets. All around the room are more portraits with different people on old-fashioned clothing and eerie red eyes with black swirls on them, but she paid it no mind. Her fear was forgotten as fatigue took over. She did not bother to remove her uniform as she collapsed on the bed.

She closed her eyes and waited for sleep to take over. However, she cannot sleep. Even with her fatigue and the comfortable bed.

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to hours and still... she still cannot sleep.

She tossed and turned because she swore she was being watched. This heavy feeling did not disappear even for a bit. She clenched her eyes and thought about other things, and surprisingly it worked. She finally drifted off to dreamland after that.

Morning came and she hurriedly exited the mansion when she found out that there was no one besides her inside, and it scared her to no end. The fog has disappeared and now she could clearly see a path leading somewhere. She must get home. Her mother will be worried sick because she was expected to be early yesterday.

She followed the path and she came across a wooden cabin on the end. An old man was there, arranging some firewood and his straw hat covered his face.

She walked to the man and said, "Good morning, great elder."

The old man looked up to reveal a kind elder smiled as he stood up and brushed his hands on his jumpers. "Good morning, child. How may I help you? "

Sakura briefly hesitated and finally willed herself to ask, "Uhm… do you know the mansion on the other side of this pathway?"

The elder's smile vanished as he looked at her with a trace of fear on his face. "Yes, why?"

Sakura noticed the fear and began to feel fear herself. "Well, I would like to ask about the portaits on the first room, the one with the queen sized bed. They're very beautiful, but... that room feels strange."

The elder looked at her with confusion on his face. Slowly, his face widened in realization. Sakura noticed this and inquired about it. The elder has a frightened look on his face.

"My dear child, those are not portraits."

Sakura gasped, "What? I... I don't understand."

The elder sighed and said,

"Those are windows."

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**I hope you like it!^^ Random one-shot, sorry about that! Please review! Thanks!^^**


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